第二版新视野大学英语听说教程4Passage原文.doc

第二版新视野大学英语听说教程4 Passage原文 Unit 1 The Fame Game The Dangers of Fame You young people go crazy over famous people. Will you listen to me when I tell you your generation is wrong about this? Let me use an example to illustrate my point to you. Marilyn Monroe, you might not even know who she is. Back in my day, when I was your age, she was a big movie star. But she wasn’t born a movie star, no sir. She was a simple girl with beauty and innocence until she went to Hollywood to develop a respectable name in her profession, she sought fame. Well, I’ll tell you, she made her movies –All About Eve in 1950, Gentiemen Prefer Blondes in 1953, Some Like it Hot in 1959, and more. She got into trouble throughout –drugs, abuse匒ll of this came crashing down on her head, and she died at an early age in 1962. Sad, really. I hope that this example shows you the dangers of fame. Believe me, itI’s best just to live a simple life. Unit 2 One of a Kind Charlie Chaplin Some people stand out as truly special and one of a kind. Charlie Chaplin, a superstar of silent comedies and one of the great icons of the 20th-century film, is one of those unique people. Chaplin had a rotten childhood and an early start on stage, performing even as a child in vaudeville. He went to Hollywood in 1914 and began acting in silent comedies. By 1915, he controlled most aspects of his films, in which he usually appeared as a character called simply the “Little Tramp”: a lovably shabby dreamer with a bushy moustache, bowler hat and cane. Chaplin was one of the founders of United Artists Studios and was one of the first movie makers to have complete control over his features. His best-know films include 1925’s The Gold Rush, 1931’s City Lights, and 1936’s Modem Times. Famously outspoken and sympathetic to communism, Chaplin left the United States in 1952 because of increased political pressure. He settled in Switzerland, where he and his wife Oona raised eight children, including actress Geraldine Chaplin. In 1972